Cats in the Cradle
by LadySnape88
Summary: The brothers hadn't expected to find another hunter they could work with, but they had to admit that this new girl was pretty damn good.


**Chapter 1**

Magdaline (Maggie) had been on her own for some time. Coming from a family of hunters, she knew better.

Sam had gone out to get dinner for Dean and himself when he stumbled upon the alley Maggie and a group of vampires she was up against were in. He obviously thought she was just another damsel in distress until she snapped at him.

Turning her head towards him, long brown hair flying, the young woman growled, "I had it handled, Winchester!"

Surprised, he didn't even have the chance to ask if she was alright, instead he raised his hands in defense, "Wait, how do you know my name?"

Maggie gave him look at was more _are you stupid?_ than _are you seriously asking that?_ "Oh, come on, everyone knows the Winchester Brothers. Now, I'm betting you're Sam. Am I right?"

Realizing his hands were still up, he slowly lowered them. He kind of liked her fire, "Okay then, but how'd you guess I was Sam and not Dean?"

Chuckling, she pointed in the direction of his head with her screwdriver, the first thing she had grabbed when the gang showed up, and simply said, "Hair."

At this, Sam smiled, "So you huntin' alone?"

Maggie was rightfully suspicious. She'd heard things on the road about the brothers, but wasn't sure if she wanted to know their validity or not, "Why? Are you looking for a partner? Pretty sure Dean would get jealous." She gave him a quick once over, raised her eyebrows, and gave him a wicked grin. Sam knew that look said "maybe not this time with time running out."

As the brunette turned to walk away, she grabbed her duffle bag off the ground and started glancing around. From behind her, Sam called, "Lose something?"

Maggie nodded, frustrated, and replied, "Yeah, the bus stop."

Before Sam could ask why, 'Carry On My Wayward Son' began to echo through the alley way. Her laughter joined it and with an amused smirk the young woman said, "You should answer that."

Recognizing the ringtone, Sam dug out his phone and answered, "Yeah, Dean?" pause. "Yup, be there in 10. Got the curtains drawn?" pause. "Yeah, I know, stupid question." As he put it back in his pocket, he strode forward, grabbed Maggie's duffle off her shoulder, and started walking back up the alley where he came from.

The young woman could kick herself for having let her guard down, again. "Hey!" she yelled. With his long legs, she had to jog to catch up to him. Grabbing his upper arm, she tried to slow him down since she obviously had no chance at stopping this giant, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

His eyes flashed down to hers, a gleam in them, before checking their surroundings, "So you _are_ southern." How'd he know that? At the startled look on her face, he chuckled and continued, "When you get angry, your accent gets thicker. You shouldn't hide it."

He must've taken pity on her 5'4" frame and slowed down. She fell in step with him and asked, "Where are we going?"

Suddenly serious, Sam responded, "You," as he pointed down at her, "are coming back to stay at the hotel with us for the night."

That wasn't the answer she was expecting, "Uh…"

Sam noticed that Maggie had stopped walking next to him and turned back towards her, "No arguments. At least until first light. If you've been hunting even a day, you should know better than to be out late - alone."

With her head down, Maggie kicked a rock and tried to hide how stupid and upset she felt, "I know. I was upset and let down my guard."

He rejoined her and reached out to lay a hand on her arm in comfort as he remembered seeing other woman do, "You can take my bed. I'll take the chair. That way we all can get some rest."

Her head shot up as she exclaimed, "What? I couldn't put you out -" At the sincere look on his face, she conceded and nodded, "Fine, but I'll make breakfast and I can make a killer cherry pie."

Putting his arm around her shoulders, he steered them towards the motel. The smile had returned to his face, "Dean is gonna love you."

A few minutes later, Sam opened the door and proceeded Maggie into the hotel room. Dean, sitting in just jeans at the table between the kitchenette and beds, turned towards the door, "About damn ti-" He stood in surprise, "Uh, Sammy, you wanna explain." It wasn't a question.

Flicking his gaze towards his brother before focusing on the young woman again, Sam closed the door and set the purple duffle bag on the ground near it. Motioning to Maggie then the other man, "Dean. Maggie."

"Uh?" Dean obviously still wasn't getting it.

Maggie stepped forward, hand poised to shake his with a smile on her face, "So, you're Dean. Huh…" She eyed him up and down as she had Sam.

Dean looked down at himself as if he had missed something during his shower earlier, confused, "What?"

"Nothing. You're just shorter than I expected." She shook her head and grinned.

Finally shaking his head as the words processed in his head, he look down again and realized he still didn't have a shirt on. As he dug through his own duffle on the bed, the brunette giggled, "Don't get dressed on my account."

Struggling to get his t-shirt on, the shorter man again questioned, "Sam?"

Sam was still standing just behind Maggie with his hands in his pockets. He shrugged and said, "Oh, Maggie is gonna stay with us tonight."

Glancing down, then back up at the two still standing at the far end of the room, Dean attempted to shove his weapons bag under the bed with his foot without this strange woman noticing. Too bad he wasn't fast enough because next thing he knew, he heard a high pitched, "Oh you've got a TenPoint Shadow! I've been looking for another." Looking back and forth between the brothers, excitement evident on her face, "I lost mine a few months back." She took a few steps, but stopped herself as she half reached forward for the crossbow. "Do you mind if I..?"

At Dean's still perplexed look, Sam decided it was probably time to fill him in. He looked pointedly at the young woman admiring the crossbow in her hands, "Oh, she's a hunter, too."

Dean noticed she had the weapon in her hands and snatched it back before replying, "But she doesn't -"

Maggie cut him off, hands on her hips, "But I don't look like one?" She nodded hoping to make the situation lighter she joked, "Yeah, I get that a lot. Probably because I'm like a foot shorter than this moose over here, right?"

"Well, I wasn't actually going to say it," Dean said, looking like a guilty child.

Sam could tell from how stiff her shoulders looked that she felt uncomfortable at his brother's faux paux.

Pursing her lips, Maggie turned to grab her bag, looking up at the taller man, "You know, Sam, I think I can just go and get my own room."

His hands on her shoulders stopped her. He ducked his head to look at her properly and spoke softly to her, "No, it's okay. Dean's just hangry." He raised his voice on the last part, looking at his brother. Sam tossed the bag of burgers to Dean and made his way into the kitchen area. Besides, I think we might have the last room."

"Damn," Maggie mumbled under her breath and set the bag back down, this time near the bed closest to the door.

As Sam stepped back into the bedroom area, his older brother asked, "Am I missing something?" Dean felt like he was being left out of the loop.

The brunette stepped back over to the taller brother and put a hand on his arm before turning to Dean and explaining, "Sam here was kind enough to help me dispatch some vamps a few blocks over." Subtly, she rubbed his arm with her thumb, loving the feeling of the strong muscles underneath. Looking back at Dean, she continued, "I had it handled, bless his heart, but he was gentleman enough to help a lady."

Sam clutched his chest with his other hand in mock hurt, "I'm not sure if I should be insulted or not."

She smiled sweetly up at him, pat this arm, and replied, "Up to you, sweetie."

Dean eyed the two, observing their obviously fast friendship and playfulness. He still wasn't sure about this party crasher, but Sam had helped her without too much question so he asked, "Really now?"

"So, like I said before, Maggie here is gonna stay the night. She can take my bed and I'll sleep in the chair or on the floor." The look on Sam's face said that he wasn't going to change his mind.

Exasperated, Dean threw up his hands and said, "Whatever man, I'm exhausted." Using the crossbow still in his hands, he pointed at her while looking at his brother, " Assuming Dixie here doesn't kill us in our sleep, we're _all_ gonna have a talk come morning." This earned an indignant "Hey!" from Maggie who snatched up her bag and strode into the bathroom to change for bed.

"Dean…" Sam felt like all the progress they'd just made had been undone by his brother's stupid comments. He was right, they needed to talk - with and without Maggie.

Turning away from the taller man, Dean held up his hand to stop the comment he knew was coming, "Sam, let's just get some sleep."

When Sam finished making a pallet on the floor, he waited for to Dean climb into his own bed, having switched to the one near the door, before sitting on his makeshift bed. Maggie came out of the bathroom dressed in short sleep shorts and an old, long purple t-shirt with a high school football team emblazoned on it.

Maggie sat cross legged on the edge of the bed and pulled her hair down from the messy bun she'd thrown it in for a quick shower. Sam reached up and fingered the frayed ends of the t-shirt "Texas, huh?"

"Yup, you were right with the accent thing earlier." Briefly, Maggie smiled fondly at past happy memories, but her smile dropped as others seeped to the forefront of her mind.

A gruff, "Lights out, come on," came from the other bed as Dean leaned over and switched off the overhead light from between the beds.

Making herself comfortable under the large blankets, Maggie reached down and lay a hand on Sam's shoulder one last time before whispering, "Goodnight, and thanks again."

Sam grasped her hand before she could pull it away and gave it a reassuring squeeze as he responded "Don't mention it."

With a creaking of bedsprings and a rather loud, "Ugh," the dark room fell into silence.


End file.
